Video: Colle delle Finestre

Colle delle Finestre will be the feature climb in Saturday’s Giro stage 20. It’s a gigantic climb that I’ve dreamed of cycling. Before watching it on TV, I thought I’d explore while the roads were deserted (in fact closed to cars).

A quick thanks to all the people who have asked if all was well due to the lack of posts recently. I’ve been nursing a sore knee.

Anyway, here’s a brief video of the climb:

A few random thoughts:

The steepest ramps seemed to be in the first two kilometres. The rest of the climb is very steadily steep.

The first 10 kms are beautifully paved – and narrow – with loads of hairpins

The 8 unpaved kilometres were clearly just smoothed over for the Giro.

At the top are two monuments to Danilo Di Luca that was first over Finestre in 2005, it’s only other Giro appearance

ABOVE, the Colle is an interesting “garden” with monuments celebrating the most famous cycling climbs (Stelvio, Mortirolo, Gavia, Ventoux, Tourmalet, Izoard, Galibier, and Alpe d’Huez)